H is for The House Opposite

Although best known for his patronage of the work of René
Magritte and Salvador Dali, Edward James was also a close friend
and patron to surrealist artists Leonor Fini and Leonora
Carrington.

The House Opposite (1945) by Carrington is one of the works
James purchased from Leonora for the sum of $450. He chose the
frame for this iconic work, framing it in Italian Renaissance
moulding which he thought looked like ivory next to tortoiseshell.
Carrington lived most of her adult life in Mexico City, and was one
of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of
the 1930s until her death in 2011.

Joanna Moorhead, an award-winning freelance journalist, was
cousin to Leonora Carrington and says,

"The women of the surrealist movement were often written off as
silent and subservient. In fact, a group of them were creating
extraordinary work - and lives - in Mexico".